@FP123

Another oldie but goodie. An interesting take on crony capitalism / fascism / statism / socialism from the point of view of institutions vs individuals..

Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Threat of Government Power
Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish

"Time and time again, the liberal defenders of government power have attacked any call for reform as a plot by the wealthy. Even now New York Times editorialists pound their keys about the "Concentration of Wealth", invoking presidents from Andrew Jackson to Theodore Roosevelt. But in our America, the "Concentration of Wealth" is not found in the hands of a few billionaires. It is found in the hands of the government.

The editorialists talk about the income gap and how much wealth is held by the top 1 percent of the country, but they are leaving something out. Their statistics deal with individuals, not institutions. And it is institutions which threaten our liberties, not individuals.
. . .
The 2008 presidential campaign cost 5.3 billion dollars. Another 1.5 billion for the House and the Senate. And that's not counting another half a billion from the 527's and even shadier fundraising by shadowy political organizations. But that's a small investment when you realize that they were spending billions of dollars to get their hands on trillions of dollars.

Do you know of any company in America where for a mere few billion, you could become the CEO of a company whose shareholders would be forced to sit back and watch for four years while you run up trillion dollar deficits and parcel out billions to your friends? Without going to jail or being marched out in handcuffs. A company that will allow you to indulge yourself, travel anywhere at company expense, live the good life, and only work when you feel like it. That will legally indemnify you against all shareholder lawsuits, while allowing you to dispose not only of their investments, but of their personal property in any way you see fit. There is only one such company. It's called the United States Government.
. . .
But this isn't a battle of billionaires. Mere money no longer means what it once did. The billionaire is a dinosaur. The wealthiest men in America can't wait to get rid of their holdings. In the free market, money made you king. But under socialism, money just buys you access and leverage. The leverage to force every man, woman and child to buy your product. The real concentration of wealth is no longer among men, but among institutions. Like electricity passing along copper wire, it jumps among unions, political machines, companies, non-profits and back again. Its function is to provide the motive power for the great beast of government to grind on. And the American taxpayer is left lying flat in the street. "

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2011/02/...ment-power.html
ATG

@algernonpj

Thanks for posting, I didn't get the ping - let me know if you get this one.

Quote: FP123 wrote in post #2

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@algernonpj

Thanks for posting, I didn't get the ping - let me know if you get this one.

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I waited a few minutes, refreshed the page, logged off and on - no ping. Just eMail (because I subscribed to get eMail when there is a new post to this thread.)

@algernonpj

Not sure what is the matter, aside from those 2 I got in the test thread on Monday, no more have arrived.

@FP123

Quote: FP123 wrote in post #4

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@algernonpj

Not sure what is the matter, aside from those 2 I got in the test thread on Monday, no more have arrived.

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Same here.